Eric Holder Gives Pass to Banking Criminals at Credit Suisse

When it comes to the Tea Party, Obama's IRS probes private citizens beyond the legal limits. But when it comes to Swiss banks engaged in widespread criminal conduct, Eric Holder's Justice Department turns a blind eye.

Swiss bank Credit Suisse has perpetrated a criminal enterprise on American soil by intentionally fleecing the federal government of billions of dollars in taxes, yet top political leaders at the U.S. Department of Justice refuse to pursue criminal charges against all of the bank officials engaged in the scheme.

Credit Suisse is based in Zurich. It repeatedly sent officers to the United States and engaged employees in the United States to aggressively market schemes to American citizens to avoid the payment of taxes to the IRS.

These marketing pitches were made in the United States to American citizens. Credit Suisse promised anonymous movement of cash away from the reach of the IRS.

The conduct is criminal, yet the Department of Justice refuses to prosecute all of the bank officials committing the crimes.

Credit Suisse engaged in this criminal conduct by (a) removing or falsifying references from outgoing United States Dollar payments ... (b) advising sanctioned entities how to avoid automated filters at U.S. financial institutions primarily located in New York. ... (c) causing U.S. financial institutions to process sanctioned transactions unknowingly.

This deferment of prosecution described in the 2009 document did not foreclose prosecution of the tax criminals working for Credit Suisse. The controversy intensified recently as bipartisan pressure inside Congress has grown, while at the same time political officials inside the Justice Department provide cover for the tax cheats.

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) chaired a hearing last month which dragged Deputy Attorney General James Cole into the hot seat. Cole didn't have many answers as to why he had been giving the tax-cheating officers with Credit Suisse a free ride for years. (You can watch the uncomfortable bipartisan grilling of Cole here.) Levin's subcommittee issued a bipartisan report detailing the extensive criminal tax evasion by Credit Suisse.